Which ride would you be?  You can tell a lot about a person by what they do in their leisure time.  You might ask how this helps you in your career pursuits but just hold on to your teacups and let me explain.  Exploring what motivates you personally may help you define what motivates you professionally.  You might seek to balance your lifestyle in a way that supports you professionally.  Meaning you may be on the go at work and desire a more leisurely sport, or you may have a more sedentary job and therefore go thrill seeking during your playtime.

Wonder why recruiters are not returning your calls?  How many resumes have you sent with little or no response?  Ever wonder why a recruiter is reluctant to provide “feedback” in the hopes it will help you figure out what you are doing wrong in an interview?  Next time you get the cold shoulder or a blank stare from a recruiter you might just stop and reflect, “Am I committing “recruitercide?”

You can’t be anymore inspired or motivated to change your job, rethink your career strategy or plot your next move as outlined in the new movie, “Horrible Bosses.”  Okay so this may be an extreme way of dealing with a problem and it’s time comes to make a career change.  But, hey desperate times as they say require desperate measures.  I’m not suggesting you hire a hit man (or wanna-be hit man) to take out your boss or any colleagues who might be getting in your way towards career advancement.  However, when it comes time to really reflect on how miserable you might be, keep one thing in mind: any alternative starts to look good when you are stuck in the middle working for a horrible boss.

Like a car that changes shape as it picks up speed, your job, can change shape, accelerate or derail just as quickly.  The only difference is you are in the driver’s seat and are able to defend your right to pursue the career you were meant to lead. Having faith in yourself and in your ability to know what you are good at and what talents, skills and tools you have to contribute will help you know whether you are living your dream or are in need of a transformation.

As a colleague recently described, “Your job search is like the airlines.  You have candidates in arrivals, those waiting in the departure lounge and then there are those who are lost in baggage claim.”  When your job search resembles a plane stuck on the tarmac, it’s time to take matters into your own hands as opposed to waiting for a queue from air traffic control!   Managing your career these days can feel like a trip to nowhere when all you want to do is get home.  It’s okay you are not alone.  When the gates seemed closed, move forward and find the next flight out.

Would you like career growth with that promotion?  Much like a mad dash through the drive-through at your local fast food, your job search can take on a strange twist as the employment situation looks bleak and competition takes center stage.  Not sure whether you are choosing large fries with that combo? Your job search offers the same challenges as it relates to whether you truly know what you want from your next career move from what you think you want.  How do you know when it’s time to choose?  Feeling pressured about your job search not knowing whether you asked for special sauce on the side? When your job search resembles an In & Out Burger, how do you keep your job order straight and make sure you end up with what you want vs. what someone else ordered for you?

Do you find yourself questioning your career sensibilities lately?  Doubting how well you can respond to change or if you lack a certain something to get ahead?  If you believe you’ve lost your “career mojo” don’t feel bad because we all have periods of self-doubt.  Your natural response may be to beat yourself up if you’ve lost your job, about to lose your job or wondering why it’s taking you forever to find a job. Finding a safe space between your fear and your freedom is not as hard as you may believe. It’s easy to get caught up in the persecution complex especially when you are a high-achiever but now find yourself doubting everything in your career path.  If you believe you have strayed too far from where you thought you were headed, it’s not too late to turn it around.  Getting your career mojo back may take time, but it’s certainly not as impossible as you may now think.

Knowing when to put yourself on the line for what you believe in these days can be a precarious task.  Trusting yourself more than you trust your co-worker may be your first line of defense.  Finding your footing when you feel that every misstep may lead you closer to the front door all the while looking over your shoulder determining whom you should trust.  Speaking up for yourself when you feel slighted in the workplace is a gamble. There was a time when being vocal and expressing yourself was considered a true sign of your leadership and personal integrity.  Now you have to weigh the odds even when the top brass encourages you to “speak freely” under promises of providing an “open work environment.”  Not true.  When in doubt you have two choices: 1) Put up or, 2) Shut up.

Making sense of the rules and regulations that govern every aspect of our lives, particularly how we work and whom we choose to work with, isn’t always a case of black and right.  You think there is a higher judge, a fairness police that sorts it all out, making the nimrods with jobs seem like the lucky ones when the rest of us need to struggle to survive the politics.  Not knowing which end is up is never easy. Not knowing which end is down is even harder.  When the rules of the game change and you seem to be lost in figuring it out, don’t sweat the small stuff, just change the rules.

Walking on a tight rope?  Feeling like you may need them, but they don’t necessarily need you?  Wondering when you might be fired or worse just “ignored” enough to make you want to quit?  Managing to survive in your career when the odds are building up against you takes a certain amount of courage and guts.  It’s not easy not to feel wanted or needed when you were hired to do a job and you feel like you are constantly looking over your shoulder, uninvited to attend meetings or questioned at every turn. Managing to survive and managing your career can be one in the same when you are ready to jump ship or feel like you are being pushed off.